Films about Witches have become quite popular in the last few decades. Many of these, like 1996’s The Craft, 1999’s The Blair Witch Project, and 2015’s The Witch have resonated so well that people often give them repeat watches. This leads us to one of the newest entries into the sub-genre of Witches in Horror, Inherit The Witch. Arriving digitally in the US market on September 24, 2024, through Bayview Entertainment, does it have anything new to offer?
Directed by Cradeaux Alexander (Doctor Theatre series, Visions in a Safe House 2023), the cast includes Alexander himself as the star, Rohan Quine (OZ series, Doctor Theatre series), Heather Cairns (Jim Morrison: Rider of the Storm 2021, I was a Soldier 2024), Christopher Sherwood (Mr. Alan on Saturday 2019, The Lost 2020), Imogen Smith (Between the Silence 2011), and Elizabeth Arends (Mrs. Carmody and Mrs. Jellineck series, Longtails 2023). Summarizing the plot, Inherit The Witch begins in 1984 with a family throwing a fourteenth birthday party for their two children. Thirty years later, they come together in two isolated houses in a forest, where horrific truths are uncovered about the family’s occult pact with an ancient evil that has enabled their wealth and power.
With all this in mind, it is hard to find a positive with this film aside from perhaps the title and synopsis. For starters, while the characters are on the phone with each other Alexander tries to relate that to the audience by using a split screen, but instead, it becomes annoying and confusing. There is honestly no reason for the excess use of a split screen; because even smooth cuts with the characters still talking over them would have been okay.
Furthermore, the camerawork is shaky with several shots that take you out of the story, and the flow is not that great due to cut scenes. There is no fluidity in the cuts. In most films, you do not notice the cut scenes, because the editor does their job, but in Inherit The Witch the cuts are at times just straight jumps. This also includes the coloring and lighting as well; with many shots under or over-exposed. There is also no consistency in the shots. One minute Alexander’s lover is downstairs having a phone conversation, the next as Alexander goes upstairs he runs into his lover who was just downstairs. Props are not even where they were in the previous shot, and again, this takes away from what is going on in the story. This leads to the acting… which truthfully is not so great. Certain scenes make you believe what is going on, and some make you shake your head in disbelief. A saving grace here is that the music is interesting. However, used excessively, it feels as if it is trying too hard to be the star of the film.
Overall, it is a challenge to find many redeeming qualities in Inherit the Witch. That is why Cryptic Rock gives it 1 out of 5 stars.
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